All Forum Posts by: Mazen Al Ashkar

@Tonya Sanders 

I agree with @Chris Seveney, however, if i'm not mistaken, i believe a Contract for deed is still treated as a mortgage in Oklahoma. Of course, if you don't record the contract in the county then you may get away with cancelling the contract if properly structured. 

The other idea is a lease option for 2 years which gives them enough time to season with rents and get refi to pay you off? 

Hope this helps

@Account Closed provided massive value but one thing i would add is to consider shifting your focus more on getting started than nailing down the right structure with all the combinations for taxes, etc... 

You mentioned 2 things that caught my attention. 

1) You can get great deals (I'm assuming you can qualify/quantify a good deal) 

2) You have excellent credit in Canada, can you not take a line of credit from Canada to finance and then refi in the US after seasoning with solid rents?

Personally, i setup a LP with 1% General partner being a LLC for liability protection. This way i avoid double taxation on the 99% of the partnership and 1% of LLC, i just have to eat it.

Again, i think you can get started much sooner thank you think if you just focus on the 80/20. 

Hope this helps

@Sam McMillan...welcome to BP! I also have to agree with the rest. While most of us here will give you advice based on scalability, i also think you need to consider investing some time in education to feel more confident in taking the right step. Maybe buy someone coffee and see the pros and cons, i'm sure it will be valuable time. 

@Jason Cory....talk about bringing value!!! Great post!

Hi @Gord Stevenson, 

Great post. for #2, you might wanna consider switching to LP and give your general partner 1% of the LP which would be a LLC to keep your liability protection. I agree with you also on the option of investing in your own name and buying extra insurance, i think it depends on how many properties and how scalable you want to be. Also, if you have employees, different types of income, etc...

@Mike Lambert interesting....do you get financing in these countries easily? Never looked at those options.

@Agustin Loreto Welcome to BP and goodluck on your journey! The other thing you might want to consider is house hacking as a beginner investor. It's a great way to live in your duplex or triplex and get a feel of what this means to you. I just picked up a 4plex here in MTL and i'm loving it, even though i mainly invest in mortgage notes in the US, it's always a good idea to diversify. 

At BP, you'll find everyone is willing to help, just make sure you execute and things will work out! 

Cheers

@Pascal Lapointe, apologies for not clarifying that my 4plex is in Vieux Longueuil, but again i really don't think GIM is a good way of evaluating your opportunities. You have to do your numbers. Once you go through this exercise a couple of times, you'll start seeing what works for you. A low GIM does not make a deal a good deal. 

I'm sure others will comment as well, i'm curious to hear their input as well. 

The other thing to keep in mind is what kind of invest are you, if you want good deals, you'll be able to find low GIM deals even on the island but you gotta complete a rehab project. If you're looking for properties that are rent ready, then it's a different story. 

Cheers

Hi Pascal and welcome to BP, 

There are lots of rules of thumb out there that are very helpful, from my experience, i think ultimately, you need to define your own rule of thumb, i.e. how much are you looking at your property to cash flow and what return expectations do you have. The GIM (Gross income multiplier) you're referring to 14 to 16 is normal in Montreal. i recently closed on a 4plex at 13 GIM. at the end of the day, 13 is not really what i based my purchase on, it was full financial breakdown that helped me make the decision including full expenses, vacancy rates, mgt fees, etc... 

You'll also run into 1% rule, 2% rule or 50% rule mainly here on BP and again i'm speaking only from my experience, i highly doubt you can find any 1 and 2% properties on the island. 

Hope this helps...

Mazin

Hope this helps,

@Vina Real 

Will your name be on the assignment? or simply getting 15% on private money? If he's able to afford 15% on your money, then he's definitely buying non-performing notes so i will make that assumption. If i were you i would either

- Ask him to put up some collateral, maybe he has another property he can use as collateral. 

- or go with a 50/50 profit split as @Daria B. suggested, this is how we do all our JV deals as well and ensure that your name is on the assignment as well.

Also you mentioned he will do the servicing, i'm assuming he will be working with a servicing company and you will be funding the expenses? Just make sure he's a licensed servicer. Is he buying 1sts or 2nd position notes? 

Hope this helps a bit